Five Fold Ministry

21/03/2006
Do you believe that God still uses the five fold ministry? If so please explain your answer.

Of course He does. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:11-12 that God has given His gift to the body of Christ, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry until we all attain for the unity of faith. The five-fold ministry is sent by God, people that are true bonafide apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are to equip the saints so that the body of Christ, at large, is doing the work of ministry, evangelizing the world, caring for the hurting, healing the hurting and reaching this world for Jesus Christ. We’re going to do that, five-fold ministry people are going to equip the saints until we all attain to the unity of faith. Until we finish the work God has for us. Then, God won’t need the five-fold ministry on this earth any more.

Five Fold Ministry

21/03/2006
Ephesians 4:11-12 talks about the five-fold ministry – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. What is the practical function of the five-fold ministry, particularly of apostles and prophets today in building up and growing the Church?

Let’s first identify that the word apostle means sent out, or sent one. When people go out and start a church, they are apostles. When I started Life Changers International Church, I served as an apostle of the Lord. Then as people came to this church, my job was to be the evangelist. I had to get people saved and get them in the church – that’s the practical function of the evangelist. Then, I had to start feeding those people, taking care of them, pastoring them, and teaching them the Word of God. That’s where those other functions came in. Sometimes people need the encouragement that comes just from an inspirational Word from God – something that edifies, exhorts, and comforts. That’s where the prophet anointing takes place. And it can take place through one person operating in different offices at different times, or a church bringing in different people who have different functions to serve in those capacities inside of the church.

In any event, the main thing we need to recognize is that those gifts are sent by God, and they’re supposed to function inside of the church and outside of the church under the covering and the umbrella of the church. These gifts have to be recognized by the leadership of a local church so that a person is not just a cowboy, a lone ranger out there doing things as he feels led. There has to be order and authority, and for those gifts to flourish there has to be a covering.

Five Fold Ministry

20/03/2006
Are there any apostles today? If not, could you give me verses to back that up?

Are there apostles today? Clearly, the Bible says that apostles have not passed away. He has given “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers,” in Ephesians 4:11-13, “for the equipping of the saints until we all attain to the unity of the faith to the knowledge of the Son of God.” So we haven’t all attained to that yet, and when we do, we won’t need apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers anymore. But until we all attain to the unity of the faith, until we all become the perfect church that God wants us to become, then God will not take apostles away.

Now, what is an apostle? There were the 12 apostles that had the authority to write Scripture, but now, the work of an aopstle is different. The word “apostle” means “sent one” or “one who was sent.” So when somebody is sent to go do something, to establish a work for God, that person is considered in the Bible as an apostle. They’re not in the same category as the apostles of the Lamb, that are the apostles that wrote the Scriptures and that walked and lived with Jesus physically, but they have the same anointing that they had because we have the same Holy Spirit that they had.

Five Fold Ministry

20/03/2006
Do we have any more revelations today or is the Bible the end to it?

Is the Bible the only revelation that has been given to us or will there be more revelation that God gives? The answer is there is no more written revelation that God will give. However, God will give us revelation about what things mean in the Bible. For example, Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew chapter 16, “Who do people say that I am?” And they said, “well, some say you’re John the Baptist. Some say you’re one of the prophets. Some say you’re Jeremiah. Some say you’re this, some say you’re that.” And then He turned to them and said, “Okay. But who do you say that I am?” In other words, He made a distinction between who do people say that I am and who do you say that I am? And Peter spoke up and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus said this, “Peter, flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father who is in heaven revealed that to you, or my Father who is in heaven gave you a revelation of that.”

In other words, it might have been written about in the Bible, but God the Father gave you revelation about it and caused you to truly know it in your heart of hearts. You know how you know something in your “knower” on the inside of you? You know that you know that you know. Even when it says it in the Bible, a lot of things are said in the Bible, but people don’t believe them. But when they have a revelation from God about what the Bible means and about how it applies to your life personally, that’s when the gates of hell will not prevail against you and that’s when God will say about you, “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven revealed this to you.” So, God will give us revelation or understanding about the Scriptures, but He’s not giving us any more Scripture. This is all we need. Genesis to Revelation, you don’t need anything more than that. But the Holy Spirit will illuminate the Scriptures and make them real to you.